Chris Nguyen OC ‘15

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J.F. Oberlin University, Japan (2015-17)

Chris Nguyen graduated in May 2015 as a double major in Economics and East Asian Studies. He was a member of the Honors Program in the Economics Department and the recipient of a Posse Foundation Leadership Scholarship. During the summer of 2013, Chris worked at the Chinese Mutual Aid Association where he led pilot workshops for high school students that focused on empowering high school youth from immigrant and refugee families. Chris is an accomplished linguist who speaks Vietnamese, a little Spanish, is self-studying Chinese, and took a Korean Exco. If that’s not enough, he is very advanced in Japanese! His passion for Japanese language study led him to study abroad at Waseda University for a semester. At Oberlin, Chris was co-chair of Oberlin Taiko (he also taught a Taiko Exco), and the Vietnamese Student Association. During his second year at Oberlin, Chris was the lead resident assistant at Asia House, where he held meetings and coordinated a platonic session of “speed-dating” for first year Obies to get to know each other. He incorporated his love of language study into his economics honors thesis, by examining the economic benefit of foreign language learning. Chris “would like to one day be able to incorporate my passion for Japanese and East Asian Studies into a business or economics related career.” Read about his adventures on his blog, Vietnamerica in Japan.

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Language More As a Means to an End
Language More As a Means to an End

Chris Nguyen ‘15, JFOU Fellow

During my Shansi fellowship, feeling accomplished was always tied to the balance between learning a new language to communicate and actually making connections with people. As early on as my study abroad experience in Tokyo three years ago, improving my language ability was one of the main ways in which I measured my own personal success.

Lessons in Many Classrooms
Lessons in Many Classrooms

Chris Nguyen ‘15, JFOU Fellow

As a first year Shansi fellow in Japan, I realized early on that I have been experiencing two major transitions in my own life: going from student life to working life, and starting my post-­‐graduation life outside of my home country.